This article is part of an ongoing look that we're doing here at The Republican and MassLive.com regarding the move to Gillette. The objective of this particular article was to show what the vision of UMass was, not necessarily to discuss the obstacles. We'll do plenty of that, I promise, but for us to answer all of your questions in one piece — it would be something that would be too long to read in one sitting. So if anyone is confused, I apologize, but bear with us, by the time this is done, hopefully all of your questions will be answered.

That being said, I think sorryspfld and strops are right to point out that the fact that the stadium is 90 miles away should have been included in this piece. The fact is, no matter what I want to say about vision, that 90 miles is a fact that is very close to the center of this issue. I take full responsibility for not including that, and thank you guys for pointing it out.

Sorryspfld, many of your questions about students haven't been written about because UMass doesn't have the plan finalized yet (as far as buses, etc.) As soon as that plan is done, you can be sure to see it broken down right here.

I will say this about the "family reunion in someone else's town" concept. If a majority of your family currently lived in New York, but you're all originally from Pennsylvania, is it totally crazy to have your reunion in New York? That's what this is for UMass. The majority of alumni live in the Boston area.

Whether or not it's better ultimately to play your games on campus, that's not for me to decide. But I will say that this is a unique scenario where playing games 90 miles away makes far more sense than it does when you first hear it.

Superfan990, you make some good points (1 and 2 are quite accurate, from my personal point of view). As far as No. 5, the 2,200 is total sold, not just accounts. The Department says they are pleased with that progress thus far, especially since they really haven't opened the throttles on marketing yet. How much of an effect that has on what happens from here on out remains to be seen, but to be halfway to the goal without much of a marketing push has kept them satisfied thus far.

As far as the student attendance issue is concerned, I did not attend UMass, so I cannot attest to have personally experienced what went on at McGuirk. However, from talking to people within the department as well as people I went to HS with that did attend UMass, it seems to me that student support for the team itself was low. I've heard quite a few of the stories of people tailgating and going home at kickoff to watch games on TV or continue partying.

I went to a college with big-time FBS football. There were plenty of students that went to the game, but just as many went home to watch on TV, or stayed in the parking lots and kept drinking. It's part of the deal with college football, I think. Not everyone wants to go to the game, but everyone wants to be a part of the experience (or just get drunk). Whether or not this contributes or detracts from the overall program is not for me to decide, but I do know for a fact that it is not just a "UMass" thing.

Whether or not they'll get on the bus to Foxborough is a whole different animal. There are a lot of questions to be addressed there, which are being worked on by the Athletic Dept. and Student Affairs right now. The student issue will get its own story within this series, you can be sure of that.

For those confused about the radio agreement affecting this, that's my bad. There should be a sentence in there explaining that hockey was NOT included in the WEEI agreement, leaving it temporarily without a radio home, though UMass says hockey games WILL be on the radio somewhere this season.